The research project IntenKS investigates possibilities for energetic and material reuse of sewage sludge in China.
In the past, sewage sludge was often regarded as a waste material, but an increasing awareness of its potential for energy and material reuse has changed this attitude. As a result of increasing ecological problems, China is experiencing the same shift in attitude away from landfilling and towards resource-saving and energy-optimized recycling of sewage sludge . In view of the fact that in the near future China will have to build wastewater treatment plants for around one billion people, the German-Chinese research project IntenKS is developing solutions for the management of residual materials in wastewater treatment plants under Chinese conditions.
As part of the project, the Institute of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering is working on adapting and transferring the innovative thermal treatment processes of thermal pressure hydrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization to Chinese boundary conditions. Practical investigations on a semi-industrial scale are being carried out in Germany and China in order to optimize sewage sludge digestion and produce high-calorific sludge coal. The aim is to develop an economically and ecologically sustainable concept for improved sludge and residue treatment in China. From a scientific point of view, the systematic investigation of different thermal digestion processes and analysis methods will make it possible to compare different technologies and various sewage sludges in terms of gas yield and organic degradation.
